Bubble toy



United States Patent BUBBLE TOY Alexander G. Jianas, Kansas City, Mo., John R. Dos Passos, Westmoreland, Va., Nicholas C. Spanos, New York, N.Y., and Gene Towne, Hollywood, Calif.

Application June 5, 1957, Serial No. 663,745

1 Claim. (Cl. 466) This invention relates to bubble toys and more particularly to a toy bubble pistol designed for use with a suitable substance to produce bubbles for the pleasure and enjoyment of the operator of the device.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a bubble toy in the nature of a pistol wherein a liexible hollow hand grip has a barrel inserted therein and disposed in such relation to a ring that upon squeezing the hand grip air is forced out of the hand grip through the barrel and toward the ring, causing bubbles to be formed from a ilm held by the ring, and the bubbles projected forwardly as bullets from a gun.

A further object of the instant invention is to provide a bubble toy that is economical to manufacture and assemble and, being simple in operation, can be used and enjoyed by children.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description of. the form of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bubble toy made in accordance with the present invention, with a portion cut away for clarity.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof with the hand grip shown in cross-section.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III- III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view thereof.

The bubble toy forming the subject matter of the instant invention, being broadly designated by the numeral 10, is in the form of a pistol and is comprised of a hollow hand grip 12 having a tubular barrel 14 mounted in communication therewith, and a ring 16 disposed outwardly from air outlet end 18 of the barrel 14, ring 16 being maintained in its outwardly fixed position by a plurality of fins 20 which connect barrel 14 therewith.

Hand grip 12 is preferably formed of a liexible material such as plastic, rubber or any other suitable mate rial which will allow it to be squeezed in order to force air outwardly through a passage 22 of the barrel 14, and yet return to its original shape upon the release of said pressure. Formed as a part of the hand grip 12 and located beneath outwardly extending barrel 14 is a boss 24 which simulates a trigger and is adapted to received the nger of the operator of the device. Immediately below boss 24, and extending rearwardly and downwardly therefrom along the front edge of the hand grip 12, are indentations 26, 28 and 30, designed to receive the lingers of the operator of the device and to facilitate the squeezing action necessary for the operation of bubble toy 10.

On the normally rear edge of hand grip 12, and in opposed relationship to boss 24, is formed a recess 32 which is so locatedeas to conform tothe hand of the person holding hand grip 12, and which serves as a further aid to the operator in exerting the necessary pressure to propel air out of the hollow hand grip 12 and through the passage 22 of barrel 14.

Hand grip 12 is also provided with an opening 34 for the purpose of receiving barrel 14 which is forcibly inserted into opening 34 and frictionally held in place therein. Opening 34 is of initially smaller circumference than the outer circumference of barrel 14 and accordingly, after its insertion into opening 34 barrel 14 is held rmly in place therein as a result of the exible nature of the material from which hand grip 12 is formed, the need for any adhesive agent being thereby eliminated.

Barrel 14, as shown in the drawing, is cylindrical in shape and has the passage 22 extending along the 1ongitudinal axis thereof. As a result of passage 22 opening at its inner end into the interior of hollow hand grip 12, the air pressure created by squeezing hand grip 12, is directed through passage 22 and against a iilm 36 created across ring 16 by dipping the latter into a suitable bubble-forming substance.

As the air leaves the air outlet end 18 of barrel 14, the greater portion thereof, by reason of being under pressure, is directed against iilm 36 formed across ring 16. Furthermore, since the diameter of ring 16 is su'bstantially larger than that of passage 22, the natural diffusion of the air as it passes beyond outlet end 18 is compensated for by said difference in diameters and a major portion of the air leaving passage 22 is thus directed against film 36.

However, since a portion of the air leaving the air outlet end 18 of barrel 14 has a tendency to move laterally from said end 18, it is desirable to properly guide the laterally moving air in order that the bubbles formed by the major portion of the air striking lm 36 may be projected in a linear path from ring 16 and thus simulate the ight of bullets from a pistol.

To provide such control over the laterally moving air, fins 20 are disposed radially to barrel 14 and ring 16 and have a generally triangular surface area whereby to effectively guide the ow of laterally moving air in a direction that is truly radial to the path of the air being directed against iilm 36, and thus prevent any swirling action as the bubbles are projected from the pistol 10.

In operation, pistol 10 is held by means of hand grip 12, the index linger of the operators hand being received by boss 24, the remaining three fingers received by indentations 26, 28 and 30 respectively and the contour of the hand between the thumb and index linger being received by recess 32. Thus holding the pistol 10, ring 16 is dipped into a suitable fluid, such as soap suds, or preferably a commercial soap bubble solution provided for such purposes, and film 36 is formed across ring 16 when the toy bubble pistol 10 is withdrawn from the solution. Hollow, exible hand grip 12 is then squeezed, forcing the air therefrom, along passage 22 of barrel 14, and against lm 36, inliating the llm 36 and projecting a series of bubbles outwardly in a linear path from ring 16, as bullets from a pistol.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

66 A toy bubble pistol comprising a hollow hand grip; a

Patented Apr. 21, 195,9,

tubular- A barrel mounted on thedhand grpvin communication therewith and extending laterally therefrom; a ring spaced outwardly beyond the outermost end of the barrel and disposed in coaxial alignment therewith, the hand grip being exible in its entirety for pumping air through the barrel to produce bubbles from a bubble forming film created across the ring, said hand grip being provided with a nger receiving boss therebeneath simulating a trigger, a recess in opposed relationship to the boss conforming to the contour ofthehandand a-plur`ality 10 v f 4 Y plurality of ircumferpentavlly spacednsinterconnecting the barrel and the ring, and fins having a substantially triangular surface area and being radial to the barrel and the ring whereby to control the ow of laterally moving air emanating form the barrel and force the bubbles to project in a linear path from the ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED sTA's PATENTS 

